1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing systems. In particular, the present invention relates to a method, system, and computer program product for integrating nodes into a distributed network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a distributed network where many nodes providing a variety of services can exist, a malfunctioning node may still be able to provide valuable services to this network. It would be useful to have the capability of integrating degraded nodes into the system, while simultaneously discovering, dynamically, the level of service the degraded nodes offer.
Currently, the solution employed in the industry to solve this problem is for a management node to verify hardware and firmware services before integrating the entity into the functioning system. If there is a malfunction detected, the entity is not integrated. This solution has several drawbacks. For example, the broken entities still have the capability to provide limited services. By not integrating the remote entity into the system, these limited services are not being taken utilized. Also, this approach also requires a tight coupling between the software-entity that locates the distributed entities and the entity that performs hardware and firmware service verification.